What happens when Asians suddenly aren't quiet and agreeable? If China needs to earn respect as a responsible world power, when it comes to getting what they want, should its men and women ask politely, demand assertively, or join the army to go protect the country's economic and political interests around the world?

We find something of an answer in Rui Chenggang, the face of Capitalist China and CCTV anchor who created an enormous stir this week after he stepped forward to ask American president Obama a question when Korean reporters wouldn't, ostensibly what any reporter should have done, in what otherwise might have been a press conference cut too short.

People shouldn't mistakenly think that the West is all laughing at Rui Chenggang. He was, after all, a Yale World Fellow, and some Western organizations tend to see him as the hope for China's future.

Here's the video of the exchange between Rui and Obama:

In his own defense, Rui has written on his Sina blog that things off-camera weren't exactly as has been reported, translated here by Roland Soong at EastSouthWestNorth:

The live global broadcast of Obama's press conference was not supposed to have any questions from non-American reporters. Obama pointed only at the White House reporters who traveled with him. This is Obama's custom. But he decided at the spur of the moment to add an extra question at the very end. He emphasized that he wanted the question to come from the Korean media. But after waiting for a while, no Korean reporter raised his/her hand. This is rare for Obama, and somewhat embarrassing.

This was the fifth time that I have seen Obama. In order to bring the proceedings to a close, as well as seizing the opportunity to have emerging countries have a say, I raised my hand from the first row and I stood up. I reminded him that I am from China. He waited a little bit longer but still no Korean reporter raised a hand. So we began to talk. Afterwards a white reporter who claims to be working in Korea raised his hand and asked a question. So Obama's gesture towards Korea was finally accepted.

American president Obama laughing nervously

The atmosphere at the scene was quite light-hearted. People were humorous. G20 was being held in Asia for the first time, and also the first time outside the eight developed countries. It would be regrettable if the American President's press conference did not have any voice from Asia. I wanted to see the interaction with the Korean reporters too but nobody was talking. No authentic Korean reporters raised their hands. We Asian reporters may be very professional in our work, but we are somewhat shy compared to our American and European colleagues.

Actually, it is no big deal to ask an American president a question. Obama faces various kinds of challenges, even verbal attacks, on a daily basis. This is part of his job. However, he deals mostly with American media. In Asian countries (including Japan), there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of soft power, international communication and influence as compared to the developed nations. The top-level international news conferences are frequently hosted and dominated by American and European media. But things are changing now, as we in Asia (especially the Chinese media workers) are rapidly internationalizing. I have sensed this strongly while crossing the globe over the last couple of years. Our support comes from our rising national power in these times.

Note in the video how Obama initially mistakes Rui for a Korean reporter? In situations like these, asks Sina blogger Wang Luzhi, now studying in the US, who's really representing who?:

To summarize an interview with Rui Chenggang, “as he stopped, just as he was about to leave, I was the first to put my hand up. Then he said the question was for Korean media, so I put my hand down again. Then, the whole floor was silent, with awkwardness growing by the second. Then, Obama and I caught glances; he seemed to be saying, didn't you just have your hand up? This all went by quickly, but I don't think Obama has ever encountered a situation like that before. Then he just kept looking at me.”

Most of the reporters there were American. If you follow American news when the president's overseas, almost all you ever see are American journalists and the president, which means I guess even they have some content that needs to be harmonized. When Rui Chenggang says he represents Asia, it's against this sort of a backdrop. I get represented by Asia all the time here at school, because Americans can't tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese or Korean people; when we have course discussions, they say their part, then the representatives from Asia share their views. In any respect, judging from the video above, he was merely relying on his reporter's intuition in gathering news, but also helping to break the silence in the room, nothing discourteous about it. As for representing Asia, that's just in response to how Obama phrased the question.

2. China seeks for things to be done in an orderly fashion, holding that when standards are upheld, success is guaranteed. The West, on the other hand, favors showing off, and I could be wrong, but holds that if you don't speak up, people won't even notice you exist. No harm is done if everyone is perfectly well-behaved, but when these two sets of values collide, the latter's tendency toward strong discussion easily overpowers the former. At which point we think: total violation of etiquette. Meanwhile they're thinking: efficiency brings direct results. Asian journalists in general are quite shy, because the notion of a press conference to begin with is an invention of the West; Asia, on the other hand, is where emperors speak and the public listens.

3. For Rui Chenggang's generation, our generation, youth are in constant negotiation with the world, continually learning to grow. As we grow closer to the West, the stronger our desire to experience our own cultural revival. Of course I'm not happy when I'm overseas and people think I'm Japanese, and that definitely does happen often. The voice I want sent out to the world is, personally, I quite admire Rui.

I'm a bit agitated, I hope everyone can understand. Sure, we don't like being represented, but taking things out of context is even worse.

Also check out this hilarious parody interview from 2008 with Rui and American comedian Rob Riggle:

11 comments

I met Chenggang Rui at the 2006 Asia Society Young Leaders Summit in Seoul. He somehow was put and he gladly accept the position of China representative by the organizer back then… Indeed he is confident and perhaps arrogant, however his style is not only endorsed in China but also in the international club culture of “country representative”.

I think it’s interesting what a big deal is made of the awkwardness of that moment when actually the question he eventually asked was not so tough or controversial (it was about how Obama deals with different interpretations of his economic policies, right?). It’s also surprising to me to hear that Korean journalists would be “shy”. Huh?

Although I can’t disagree on the theory that the ‘shyness’ was one of the elements that caused the silence, I believe the pressure to speak in English and the peer pressure are the two major causes. Many Korean journalists would have wasted their time looking around how the other Korean journalists react and figuring out which kinds of behavior would be seen appropriate. And lots, lots of Koreans are under pressure and feel that all of them should be able to answer/ask in English in case of ‘important’ international conferences.

It’s great that this article mentioned the awkward silence caused by Korean journalists’ hesitation. Many Korean media poured angry reports on his rude behavior, which many of them sounded like ‘a Chinese guy’s taking away a precious, rare chance (to speak to Obama) from Koreans.’ It’s always nice to hear a different side of story.

Arrogant d-bag. He didn’t have an actual explanation of why he said “represent”, just some glossed over semantics. If some American reporter said he represented all of North America, you bet there’d be a ton of angry Canadians and Mexicans.

In the Philippines, we can find many Korean students because they also want to learn English and speak it fluently. ‘Shy’ was not appropriate, I think, it’s about how to express it in English. If the situation was in the Philippines, it will surely be different…

Isn’t this whole discussion “much todo about nothing?” This is a good example of the silliness of today’s press. Instead of focusing on the topic, this whole link is about awkwardness of the moment. My fellow journalists — please focus on issues and not whether your feelings were hurt.